24. James
JAMES
“They say you’re expecting them,” the doorman said apologetically over the intercom. “And they won’t take no for an answer. Can I please send them up?”
James sighed. “Fine. Send them up, and I’ll figure out what’s going on.”
A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and two men with a dolly and a stack of folded cardboard boxes stepped out. They both wore navy blue jumpsuits with Speedy Movers embroidered on the chests. James, who’d been working in his home office, was in the hallway and ready to meet them.
“Gentlemen,” he said politely. “It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. I’m not planning to move.”
“No, sir,” the first man said politely. “I’m Carter, and this is my brother, Kyle. We were hired by Lauren Maddox to remove her things after your breakup.”
“Breakup?” James shook his head, his brows pinching.
“No, no. We haven’t broken up. We’re just…
” He trailed off as he realized what was happening.
Lauren had meant what she’d said when she stormed out of the penthouse with her suitcase.
She wasn’t just taking a break or gathering herself.
She wasn’t planning to come back and talk things through.
She was really leaving, despite the consequences of ending their marriage.
James’s stomach dropped. He’d hoped, over the past few days, that Lauren would eventually come back.
That she’d fight for what they had. But now, he saw clearly that if he wanted a relationship with her, any kind of relationship, he was the one who had to fight for it.
He had to prove to her that they should try again, if it wasn’t too late.
“Sorry, man,” Carter said. He gave a little half-shrug. “We didn’t mean to break the news.”
“It’s all right,” James said. It wasn’t this man’s fault.
“Can we get started?” Carter asked. “I’m sorry. It’s just, we have a few jobs to get to today…”
“Yeah, go ahead.” James grabbed his shoes from the rack by the door. “I’m going out. Please check in with the doorman when you leave.”
Carter and the silent Kyle looked surprised, but James just headed for the elevator.
He believed that they’d only take the things Lauren had asked for, and even if they didn’t, he didn’t much care.
His stuff wasn’t very important to him. This place had never really felt like a home — not until Lauren moved in.
What he needed to do now was find her. Talk to her.
He needed to know if there was any chance for the two of them.
He needed to apologize for stealing her clients, even though it hadn’t been intentional.
He needed to tell her that he’d fallen for her, too.
And most of all, he needed to prove to her that he would never hurt her, that she could trust him, and that he wanted nothing more than a future with her.
Nothing mattered much without Lauren, not his company, not his house, not anything in his life.
Although he’d never been to her home, James knew where Lauren lived. He drove to her apartment, parked in the lot, and went inside. The doorman told him which floor Lauren was on.
“Shall I call up and tell her you’re on the way?” he asked.
“She already knows,” James said. He felt guilty at the lie, but Lauren might not let him in if she knew it was him, and he had to talk to her.
A few minutes later, he was on her floor, knocking on her door. It swung open, and Lauren stood in front of him in leggings and a T-shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Behind her, the apartment was almost empty — apart from a few large suitcases and some boxes.
“Lauren,” he said. She blinked, just once.
“James.” Her tone was neutral.
“Can I please come in?” he asked. “We need to talk.”
“This isn’t a good time.”
“It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“I’m sorry,” Lauren said softly. “But I just can’t talk to you right now. Our… rivalry… it just doesn’t work anymore. It isn’t sustainable. I have bigger things to worry about.”
James wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but he recognized the truth in her words.
“So do I. Please, just give me five minutes. For your husband.”
A smile flickered across Lauren’s face, though it was gone by the time she stepped back and let him in. The only piece of furniture still in the house was her couch. They both sat, and Lauren reached for a small box and popped something golden into her mouth.
“What did you want to say?” Lauren asked. She folded her arms protectively across her stomach.
“First, I want to apologize again about your clients. It wasn’t me who went after them, but it’s still my fault. I spoke to my team and undid what had been done, and it won’t happen again. Your company is safe.”
“Thank you,” Lauren said. “I just don’t understand why you didn’t say that right away.”
“Because I truly didn’t know,” James told her.
“There was a time, not that long ago, when I knew every detail of what my company did every day. But since you came into my life, I managed to release my grip, just a little. It’s been good for me; it’s allowed me to have some kind of life outside of work.
But also, it meant that I was blindsided by some of my company’s policies, even the ones I made myself.
I asked for a systematic review of everything my father and I put into place, and I’m going through to make sure that the company’s systems are what they should be.
I don’t want to run the kind of company that kicks people when they’re down, not anymore. ”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Lauren bit her lip. “I should apologize, too. I guess I jumped to conclusions. It’s just that I’ve always been given a lot of reasons not to trust people, and I thought that was happening here.”
“Maybe you were looking for those reasons, too,” James said gently. Lauren’s eyes narrowed, but then she nodded.
“Maybe a little. Still, James, as much as I appreciate what you’re trying to do, it doesn’t change things. I need to go back to Canada.”
“Why?”
Lauren sighed again. “I’ll explain someday, but there are some things that are just… too complicated.”
“Well, they don’t have to be,” James said. “I have another offer for you. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. What if you came on board at Pembrook PR?”
Lauren snorted. “I swore I’d never work for you, and I stand by that.”
“I’m not asking you to work for me. I’m asking you to work with me.
Think about it. Together, we could make the changes Pembrook PR needs to make it a better organization.
And you could do the parts of PR that you love and are great at, without having to worry about every detail or about struggling financially if one small thing goes wrong. ”
Lauren met his gaze. “Why would you want that? I’d change your organization.”
“Yes, and I’d want you to,” James said. “I’m not offering this because you’re my wife, but because you’re the most brilliant mind I know. You’re fair, too. Innovative. Beautiful.”
“Beautiful doesn’t have much to do with my business acumen, does it?” Lauren asked, but a hint of a smile danced across her lips.
“No, but I can’t say I haven’t noticed that you are,” James said.
He leaned closer. He was close to reaching her, he could tell.
“I also want you to come on board because, like I said, I don’t want to run a ruthless company anymore.
You worked hard and went for your goals, but you were never ruthless like I was.
Together, we could make Pembrook Maddox PR the best of the best.”
“Pembrook Maddox?” Lauren asked.
“I told you, I wouldn’t want you to work for me, but with me. Imagine how well we could work together. We would be unstoppable. Admit it, we’re better together than we were apart.”
“We did have something very special,” Lauren admitted. Then she looked away. “But James… as much as I appreciate you offering me a job, even offering to change the name of your company for me, working together wouldn’t fix everything.”
“No,” James agreed. “It wouldn’t. But it would be a start.
And there’s more, Lauren. I don’t just want to be your colleague.
You told me that you were falling for me.
” She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand.
“Well, I’ve been falling for you for years, Lauren.
I admire you so much. And it took me too long to realize it, but I love you. ”
“You love me?” Lauren let out a disbelieving laugh. “And yet, you led with the job?”
“I didn’t want you to think that I was only offering you a job because I’m desperate to keep you in my life,” James told her.
“The job stands on its own. Whether you want to be with me or not, we would be an unstoppable team if we worked together. But I have to ask you if you can see us trying again. I want a life with you.”
Lauren bit her lip and looked away. “James…”
“Think about it,” James said. “There’s no rush. Take a few months. I just ask that you don’t leave while you think about it.” He looked around at her packed suitcases and stacked boxes. “Please.” His voice was strained on the last word.
“I wish I could say yes,” Lauren said quietly.
“Then do.” James took her hands between his, and his heart lifted when she didn’t pull away.
She met his gaze, her blue eyes full of an emotion James couldn’t quite place, and he skimmed a thumb along the ridge of her knuckles.
“Say yes, Lauren. Let’s work together. Let’s take the PR world by storm.
And let’s be together, too. Let’s take advantage of all we’ve built together.
I love you, Lauren. And I’m ready to prove that every single day if I have to.
I would never have hurt you on purpose. I never will. Can you let yourself believe that?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Lauren said. She bit her lip.
“It is, I promise,” James said. “Say you want to be with me, too, and we can make everything else work.”
“I just don’t understand. You always said your company was the most important thing in your life. You said it wouldn’t be fair to anyone else for you to have a wife and… kids.”
“And I thought that was the case,” James said.
“But I realized that I had it backwards. I wanted to avoid being like my father by never marrying, so that I’d never let my wife down.
But now, I realize I need to avoid being like my father by being better than him, by running a company and having a partner.
I believe I can do it. I believe we can.
We’re both workaholics, but we sorted it out in Mexico, didn’t we? ”
“We did,” Lauren agreed, and James’s heart soared again.
“We can figure it out again,” he told her. “It’ll take a few months, maybe a few years, to find the balance, but we will. We can delegate our work. We can work together. And we can make space for each other in our lives.”
Until that point, Lauren had been looking at him, but now, she looked away. Slowly, she withdrew her hands.
“I’m sorry, James. I just… I can’t.”
“Talk to me,” he said. “Why not? Do you need me to prove that I can prioritize you over work? I get that, and I will. Do we need to set rules? We can — maybe no work on the weekend, or no work after eight p.m.”
“Five p.m.,” Lauren said.
“Okay, five.”
But then, she shook her head again. “It just won’t work.”
“Is it because you don’t love me?” James’s chest clenched, but he forced himself to persevere.
“No.” Lauren met his eyes. “I… well. I do love you.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
“Then we can work this out.”
Slowly, Lauren got to her feet. “Listen, James. I want what you’re describing: a partnership, both at work and at home. But we can’t take months or years to figure out a balance.”
“Why not?”
Lauren bit her lip. Tears gathered in her eyes as she crossed her arms more tightly over her stomach.
James wanted nothing more than to gather her into his arms, but he stayed seated.
There was something she had to say, and he had to let her say it.
Whatever it was, it wouldn’t change how he felt about her.